Terrifying footage shows America’s nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean which turned an island paradise into a radioactive wasteland

TERRIFYING footage shows a series of US nuclear bomb tests unleashing the fires of hell on an idyllic Pacific Island paradise. The video clips, recently released by the US government, give a glimpse into the horror caused by 23 nuke explosions detonated in Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958. Carried out in the early days of the Cold War, the tests included the 1954 Castle Bravo bomb which remains the most powerful thermonuclear weapon America has ever detonated. The civilisation-wrecking 15-megatonne explosive was 1,100 times bigger than the atomic bomb used to massacre thousands in Hiroshima in 1945. Bravo – nearly three times its predicted power – exposed thousands in neighbouring islands to the radioactive fallout despite the 167 residents in Bikini Atoll being evacuated before the first test in 1946. US government scientists declared Bikini safe for resettlement in the early 1970s but residents were removed in 1978 when it became clear that they were ingesting dangerously high levels of radiation from the contaminated fish, plants and water. To this day, the small community remain exiled from their home. Dubbed the Pacific Proving Grounds, the Marshall Island sites were used to carry out atmospheric nuclear tests – meaning the bombs were dropped from planes or detonated while underwater. During the first test on July 1, 1946, military scientists wanted to see the impact of the bombs on naval warships and even filled the boats with animals such as pigs and rats to study the effects… [Read full story]